1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to labeling systems, and in particular, to programming and/or verifying RFID labels prior to application onto products already having optically readable information such as barcodes.
2. Related Art
Typically, products stored in cartons or boxes are identified by a label on the outside of the carton or box. Identifying information may also be printed directly onto the carton with inkjet or any other suitable printing technology. The label may have optically readable information, such as a UPC barcode. These labels allow optical readers using a laser beam to scan the information contained thereon, such as description, price, date packaged, or any other usable data. One disadvantage of optically readable labels is that the optical reader and the label must be within a specific spatial relationship to each other, such as within a line of sight or along a perpendicular scan direction, or is limited in range by the optical reader.
A more recent type of label uses RFID or Radio Frequency Identification tags to store information. RFID uses radio frequency signals to acquire the data from the data within range of an RFID reader. RFID transponders or tags, either active or passive, are typically used with the RFID reader to read information from the RFID tag embedded in a label. RFID tags and labels can be obtained through companies such as Alien Technology Corporation of Morgan Hill, Calif.
One advantage of RFID labels is that line of sight is no longer required to read the label. This is a significant advantage since with barcodes, anything blocking the laser beam from the barcode would prevent the barcode from being read. Using radio frequencies allows RFID labels to be read through solid objects located between the RFID label and the RFID reader.
Even though RFID labels are not optically read, there are advantages to placing optical information on a label so that the package has both optical information and RFID on the package, such as having the ability to read the label using more than one technology. This may be beneficial because RFID label technology is not as widespread as barcode technology, and many businesses or users may not have suitable RFID readers to read the RFID tag. However, because RFID label technology is not as widespread, many users may only have barcode applicators for placing the barcode label on the package, thereby preventing placement of RFID labels. Therefore, in order for such users to have both barcode and RFID information on a package, they could purchase application systems that apply labels having both optically readable information and RFID information contained in a single label. These RFID labels can be produced in a printer, such as a thermal printer, by first printing optically readable information on the label and then programming or encoding the RFID tag embedded within the label. The label can then be placed on the package, which is readable by both a barcode scanner and an RFID reader. However, such printers and applicators can be costly.
Accordingly, there is a need for label application systems that can apply RFID labels onto packages that overcomes the deficiencies in the prior art as discussed above.